A collection of doodles with a bit of commentary by RICK GREEN - your cartooning friend

Friday, January 18, 2008

Family Practice - Shampoo

This particular panel was actually the first one I drew for my Family Practice strip. It came from a moment of inspiration while taking a shower one day.

I hate, I hate, I HATE (Have I stressed that enough yet?), I really dislike standing in the shower and having all the female bath products dropping around my feet because there is not enough room on the edge of the tub to keep them all in place. In a house dominated by women, there is NO END to the kinds of oils, lotions, and various liquids that can be bought for the beautification and restoration of a lady's... umm... person.

I especially dislike, (OK, I hate it too) when the lady's razor drops around your feet for the very same reason. AND, it always seems to happen when you have a face full of soap and you can't open your eyes. There you are, helplessly blinded - fearful of stepping on the blade and recreate a scene out of a Alfred Hitchcock movie - blood flowing down the tub, all around the drain. (Is this too graphic?)

So, while standing in the shower, with all the female products splashing around my feet I thought that there ought to be a cartoon strips which highlights the plight of a man dealing with life in a female dominated world - thats me!

Again, I was never able to sell the strip, so you all get to see the by-products from a guy chasing a dream that was never realized.

Fortunately, after we remodeled the bathroom, I pretty much have a shower to myself now - one shampoo, one conditioner, and one bar of soap. Occasionally, I do discover a pair of panty hose hanging in there to dry. But I don't complain - I just doodle.

Also, I keep forgetting to add a link to the Nation Public Radio website where my caricature of Dawn Meehan was published. NPR interviewed her and wanted to use the illustration for their article. She gave them permission with the stipulation that they would add a link to my blog page. I really appreciate Dawn doing that for me when she didn't have to.

Check out my post on Oct. 18,2007 for the full story of that illustration.

13 comments:

morninglight mama said...

Oh, I do understand the various bottles... we're remodeling our master bathroom, so for now, we're sharing the very small hall bath with the 7 year old, the 1.5 year old and the new baby. We each have our own kind of products... it's a bit crowded!! I'm wishing you a razor-incident-free shower experience each and every day!
-Dawn
mteblog.blogspot.com

Debbie @ Three Weddings said...

Just the other day my husband was asking me about all the junk I have in the shower, and I'm mild compared to some women. He's lucky he only has to share a shower with me and not our three girls, too. I'm sure I speak for him when I say he feels your pain!

Michelle Hix said...

In my house, its my husband who has all the product!

Kyddryn said...

One shampoo, one conditioner, one bar of soap...unless someone (who isn't me) forgets to toss the empties before adding a new bottle. I, too, loathe the dropsies. Razors live elsewhere, secure from my curious little guy who would probably try to shave one of the cats if he could make her sit still long enough.

Kila said...

LOL, I could totally picture that scene.

I'm the woman of your dreams, with only 3 bottles--one of body wash, one of shampoo, and one bottle of body scrub (gets rid of the dead skin--great for guys, too).

Anonymous said...

This just cracked me up. Living here in our house filled with women our bathroom is loaded with all the things you mentioned and more.

My husband has his little shower all to himself. He has learned to stay away from our end of the house where our bathroom is located.

My future SIL watches my daughter as she puts on her makeup and has a look of disbelief on his face, hehe.

Oh, the life of a woman!

chris said...

I have a wife and two daughters and a female cat now. I'm very glad we have two bathrooms but I do like to use the girls bathroom for other business because its easy to find a bottle or something to read.
I have a question do you ever make any thing on people clicking on the ads on your blog. Its very rare someone clicks a ad on my blog but when it has happened it showed in my adsense report with no earnings. I was just curious.
One day I hope to have you draw me something. I'm trying to think of a good idea.

Rick said...

To Southern Boy: Never made a red cent on my add. Actually, I didn't know that there was a way to check a report. I'll have to look into it.

I find it funny that Google puts an ad on my blog selling caricatures - an obvious competition to my work. I thought about complaining, but then I thought that maybe people will check it out to make a comparision.

Anonymous said...

We only have one shower but two bathrooms and it's my teenage son who hogs all my expensive stuff - he does have one bottle of cheap shower gel but it never seems to go down.

Then again he may just stand under the hot water and do nothing for the 15-20 minutes he's usually in there!

I do like to have all mine co-ordinated and facing forwards though.

Unknown said...

My husband also fears the razor. I hear about it every time he takes a shower.

But he sure would complain if I didn't use one! ;)

Gerry said...

I read Dawn's blog all the time. Nice to see other stuff from the guy who drew her artwork. Sounds like you are female challenged. Hang in there.
Gerry

Mamacita said...

That is so true! I feel your pain. My husband asks me the same thing - do we really need all the stuff that is in the shower??! My answer is of course a resounding yes. :)
Oh, and the video on my blog is Point of Grace. Have a great week!

Anonymous said...

Oh My!!! You made me laugh OUT LOUD!!! My poor husband feels your pain!